Apples to
Twinkies
2012
Comparing Taxpayer Subsidies for Fresh Produce and Junk Food
Apples to Twinkies 2012:
Comparing Taxpayer Subsidies
for Fresh Produce and Junk Food
U.S. PIRG Education Fund
Authors:
Laura Etherton
Mike Russo
Nasima Hossain
July 2012
Acknowledgments
The authors bear responsibility for any factual errors. The views expressed in this report
are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of our funders.
With public debate around important issues often dominated by special interests pursuing
their own narrow agendas, U.S. PIRG Education Fund offers an independent voice that
works on behalf of the public interest. U.S. PIRG Education Fund, a 501(c)(3) organization, works to protect consumers and promote good government. We investigate problems,
craft solutions, educate the public, and offer Americans meaningful opportunities for civic
participation.
For more information about U.S. PIRG Education Fund or for additional copies of this
report, please visit: http://www.uspirgedfund.org.
Some Rights Reserved: U.S. PIRG Education Fund issues this report under a Creative
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Cover photos: Apples, Elena Asenova, iStockphoto.com; Snack cakes, Mindspace, Inc.,
iStockphoto.com
Graphic Design: Harriet Eckstein Graphic Design
Executive Summary
A
t a time when America is facing an
obesity epidemic, crushing debt
and a weak economy, billions of
taxpayer dollars are subsidizing junk food
ingredients.
In this report, we find that in 2011, over
$1.28 billion in taxpayer subsidies went to
junk food ingredients, bringing the total
to a staggering $18.2 billion since 1995.
To put that figure in perspective, $18.2 billion is enough to buy 2.9 billion Twinkies
every year—21 for every single American
taxpayer.
In contrast, only $637 million has gone
to subsidies for apples since 1995. That’s
enough to buy 77 million apples per year
on average—but just half of one apple per
taxpayer.
At the same time, childhood obesity
rates have tripled over the last three decades, with one in five kids aged 6 to 11 now
obese. These increases in obesity rates will
translate into kids who are at greater risk
for heart disease and diabetes, undermining the health of our country and driving
up medical costs by hundreds of billions
of dollars. The rise in obesity has many
causes, but one of the most important is the
increased prevalence of high-fat, heavily
sweetened junk food.
Between 1995 and 2011, A merican
taxpayers spent over $277 billion in agricultural subsidies. Most subsidies went to
the country’s largest farming operations,
mainly to grow just a few commodity
crops, including corn and soybeans.
Most of these commodity crops are not
simply eaten as-is. Among other uses, food
manufacturers process them into additives
like high fructose corn syrup and vegetable
oils that provide a cheap dose of sweetness
and fat to a wide variety of junk food products. Thus, Americans’ tax dollars directly
subsidize junk food ingredients
Key Findings:
• Between 1995 and 2011, $18.2 billion
in tax dollars subsidized four common
junk food additives—corn syrup, high
fructose corn syrup, corn starch, and
soy oils (which are processed further
into hydrogenated vegetable oils).
Apples to Twinkies • Healthier agricultural products
receive very little in federal subsidies.
Since 1995, taxpayers spent only $637
million subsidizing apples, which is
one of the few fresh fruits or vegetables that have a significant federal
subsidy.
• If subsidies for junk food ingredients
went directly to taxpayers to allow them to purchase food, each of
America’s 141 million taxpayers would
receive $7.58 to spend on junk food
and 27 cents to spend on apples each
year—enough to buy 21 Twinkies but
just half of one Red Delicious apple.
Apples to Twinkies
• The $18.2 billion in subsidies for junk
food ingredients that taxpayers have
shelled out since 1995 is enough to buy
49 billion Twinkies. Placed end to end,
they would circle the globe 125 times.
• Since 1995, the lion’s share of agricultural subsidies has gone to a very
small number of large operations—
75% of subsidies go to just 3.8% of
U.S. farmers.
The fact that so many tax dollars are
being wasted on junk food demonstrates
the need to reform federal agricultural
subsidies and end this wasteful spending.
Apples to Twinkies:
Comparing Federal Subsidies for
Fresh Produce and Junk Food
Introduction
T
he U.S. is in the middle of a public
health crisis. We face a steep rise in
obesity across the country, which is
having an impact on our health, especially
the health of our children.
Childhood obesity rates in the U.S. have
more than tripled in the past 30 years.1
Almost one in five children aged 6 to 11 is
now obese. The consequences are significant. Obese children have arteries so thick
that they resemble those of 45-year-olds,
putting them at greatly increased risk of
heart disease.2 Seventy percent of obese 5to 17-year-olds show one of the risk factors
for heart disease.3
Dollars don’t fully capture the scale of
this crisis, but they can at least suggest its
outlines: $150 billion a year is spent on obesity and its related co-morbidities, a value
that has doubled over the last decade.4 And
it’s going to get worse; without significant
policy changes, projections suggest that by
2030, half of Americans will be obese, and
we will be spending an additional $66 billion
a year in medical costs as a result.5
The obesity epidemic has many causes,
but one of the simplest is also among the
most significant: junk food. There are
many reasons behind the increased production and consumption of junk food,
some simply due to consumer taste and
technological innovation. But our own
government policy is also responsible for
promoting obesity-fueling empty calories.
The fact is that even as nutritionists and
researchers tell us to cut down on junk
food in order to end the childhood obesity
epidemic, federal agricultural policy is busily underwriting the problem.
Federal Agricultural Policy
Has Lost Its Way
When significant federal support for
American agriculture began in the 1930s,
it was aimed at helping small family farms,
Apples to Twinkies many of which were struggling as the economic catastrophe of the Great Depression
and the environmental catastrophe of the
Dust Bowl caught American farmers in a
perfect storm.
Decades later, these programs have become ensconced as a permanent part of the
policy landscape. And while they’d originated as rescue programs to help small,
family-owned farmers keep their doors
open, they’ve been reshaped into subsidies
that primarily benefit the country’s largest
farming operations.
“The lion’s share
of agricultural
subsidies go
to a very small
number of large
operations—
75% of subsidies
go to just 3.8% of
U.S. farmers.”
Since 1995, taxpayers have spent over
$277 billion on agricultural subsidies. Reflecting the political clout of the biggest
producers, the lion’s share of agricultural
subsidies go to a very small number of
large operations—75% of subsidies go to
just 3.8% of U.S. farmers.6 Ironically, the
large producers who are the disproportionate recipients of subsidies may then use
the dollars they receive from the federal
government to buy out the smaller farms
around them, meaning that the subsidies
can be actively harmful to small family
farmers.7
There is a dizzying variety of subsidy
programs—market loans, crop insurance,
counter-cyclical payments. Most taxpayer
dollars go to subsidizing a few commodity crops. Of the $277 billion spent since
1995, a full $81.7 billion went to subsidize
corn; wheat and cotton growers received
over $32 billion apiece; soybeans were
subsidized to the tune of $26.3 billion.
Other big-ticket items include rice, sorghum (a type of grass frequently used as
livestock fodder), peanuts, barley, tobacco,
and livestock and dairy production. Noncrop-specific disaster relief and conservation programs make up most of the
remaining spending, with other sectors of
the agricultural economy receiving little
in subsidies.8
Apples to Twinkies
Commodity crops are not unhealthy in
and of themselves. But most of the corn and
soybeans we grow do not go to Americans’
plates as-is. For example, only about 1%
of U.S.-produced corn is the sweet corn
that is usually directly eaten by humans.9
Instead, most commodity crops are fed to
livestock, turned into biofuels, or processed
into additives like high fructose corn syrup
or hydrogenated vegetable oils.
In contrast, apples are one of the only
fresh fruits or vegetables receiving significant federal subsidies. Since 1995 the
entire complex of federal agricultural
programs has spent only $637 million on
apples10, and even this modest support is
an overstatement of the subsidies going to
fresh apples—some of the apple crop is itself
processed into forms like apple juice or
applesauce which in turn may be sweetened
with high fructose corn syrup.
Indeed, federal subsidies create very
strong perverse incentives discouraging
farmers from growing fresh fruits and
vegetables: growers of corn or wheat who
also use the land to raise produce can see
their subsidies revoked and face further
penalties.11
Federal Subsidies for Junk
Food Ingredients
Perhaps the greatest example of how U.S.
farm policy has lost its way is the fact
that many subsidized crops are processed
into common junk food ingredients. A
substantial portion of the corn grown in
the U.S. is turned into high fructose corn
syrup (HFCS) and corn starch, carbohydrates with no nutritional value. Soybeans
are ground up, with the meal going to
feed cows, and the liquid skimmed off
Crop Insurance Costs Soar
T
he federal crop insurance program is one of the largest subsidy programs, and
the fastest growing. The program allows farm companies to shift their business
risk onto taxpayers. Crop insurance is very different from home or car insurance
policies with which consumers are familiar. Instead of individuals or companies
covering the full cost of their insur­ance protection, the crop insurance policies are
subsidized by taxpayer dollars.
The program subsidizes 62% of crop insurance premiums, on average, and
reimburses insurance companies for their administrative and operating expenses.
These premiums are used to guarantee as much as 85% of revenue.12 Additionally,
crop insurance can be used to insure an expected level of revenue, meaning insur­
ance payouts can kick in even after a bountiful harvest.
Costs for crop insurance programs rose to $5.7 billion in 2009 as higher premiums
from rising crop prices drove up premium subsidies to farmers. 13 The costs for
crop insurance programs were even higher in 2011 at over $11 billion.14
The reason for this increase is counter-intuitive, and illustrates a key problem
with how this program is designed. The program primarily benefits growers of
commodity crops such as cot­ton, corn, wheat, and soybeans and these commodity
crop prices have risen to historic levels in recent years. As a result, the cost
to insure these crops has grown. As the insurance premiums go up, taxpayer
premium subsidies go up.
In other words, when market forces create high crop prices which benefit farm
operations, taxpayer subsidies to those operations increase. This is why rising
subsidies are occurring at the same time that large agribusiness operations are
experiencing record profits. Last year the agricultural sector made over $98 billion
in profit.15
Unlike other agricultural subsidy programs, the federal crop insurance program is
not currently subject to any payment limitations or caps. Earlier this year, the GAO
found that just 4% of the most profitable farm operations accounted for nearly 33%
of all premium support provided by the federal government.16
and turned into fat-based additives like
hydrogenated vegetable oil. When taxpayers subsidize these commodity crops, they
subsidize junk food ingredients as well.
Take the Twinkie: of its 37 ingredients,
at least 14 of them are made with federal
subsidies, including corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, corn starch, and vegetable
shortening.17 Twinkies are sweet, fatty and
calorie-rich, but utterly lacking in nutritional value.
Apples to Twinkies But the Twinkie hardly stands alone: high
fructose corn syrup can be found in cookies, candies, cakes, soda, bread, ketchup, yogurt, salad dressing, and sauces.18 Vegetable
oils and shortening derived from soy are
also ubiquitous in processed food products.
supported the growing of corn.22 Therefore, 9.64% of this total, or $7.9 billion, has
gone directly to corn-based sweeteners and
corn starch.
To estimate how many taxpayer dollars
are directly supporting junk food production, this report analyzes tax spending on
four “empty calorie” ingredients that are
almost pure sugar, fat, or carbohydrate, with
very limited nutritional value: corn syrup,
high fructose corn syrup, and corn starch,
all derived from corn, and soybean oil.19
While corn commonly shows up in American supermarkets, in both processed and
non-processed forms, soybeans have a
much less ubiquitous presence on retail
shelves. Yet they are a major recipient of
federal agricultural subsidies, to the tune
of $26.4 billion since 1995.23
Subsidies for Corn Syrup,
High Fructose Corn Syrup, and
Corn Starch
High fructose corn syrup is a corn-derived
sweetener that is used as a replacement for
sugar in many foods, because it is cheaper.
Biologically, it is almost indistinguishable
from ordinary table sugar, containing
roughly equal parts fructose and glucose.20
Ordinary corn syrup, or dextrose, is a
sweetener that is primarily glucose but with
a much lower fructose content. Corn starch
is, simply enough, made by processing corn
to remove everything but the starch. It is
a pure carbohydrate, used as a thickening
agent in foods.
A substantial portion of the corn produced in the U.S. is processed into these
additives. According to USDA, since 1995,
the nation grew 192.3 billion bushels of
corn. Of those, 13.9 billion bushels were
processed into some form of corn sweetener, while a further 4.6 billion bushels
were turned into corn starch.21 Thus, over
this time period, approximately 9.64% of
all American corn was turned into junk
food ingredients.
Subsidy databases show that since 1995,
$81.7 billion in taxpayer dollars have
Apples to Twinkies
Subsidies for Soy Oils
When soybeans are processed, they are
crushed, yielding both oils and ground soy
meal. The meal is primarily used as animal
feed, while the resulting oils are processed
and sold directly as vegetable oil and used
as additives in other foods. When a nutrition label lists “vegetable oil” or “vegetable
shortening” as an ingredient, very often
that vegetable is soy. In fact, soybean oil
accounts for roughly two thirds of all edible
oils eaten in the United States.24
Soy oil, as a pure fat, is often added to
processed foods to make them better-tasting. Vegetable oils and shortening show up
in Twinkies, cakes, cookies, crackers, fish
sticks, margarine, breakfast cereals, and
many other snack foods.25
Determining the percentage of the soybean crop that is processed into junk food
ingredients is more complex than it is for
corn, because the same soybeans are processed into both meal and oils. However,
USDA data breaks down the value of the
yearly soybean crop that is attributable just
to soy oils, rather than the value of the meal
or hulls. Since 1995, 39% of the value of the
soybean crop has come from oils.26
Taxpayers have spent $26.4 billion
subsidizing the production of soybeans
since 1995. Thus, $10.3 billion in taxpayer
dollars over that time period has gone to
soy oils that are turned into hydrogenated
vegetable oils and other junk food additives.
Between these four ingredients—corn
syrup, high fructose corn syrup, corn
starch, and soy oils—taxpayers have paid
$18.2 billion supporting junk food since
1995. To put that figure in perspective,
$18.2 billion is enough to buy 49 billion
Twinkies. 27 Placed end to end, 49 billion Twinkies would circle the globe 125
times.28
Using the methodology described above,
we also determined the junk food subsidies
for the last two years. Taxpayer subsidies
for junk food ingredients grew from $853
million in 2010 to $1.28 billion in 2011.
as a representative of the other varieties
of apple.
In the seventeen years between 1995 and
2011, taxpayers spent $18.2 billion subsidizing junk food ingredients; they spent $637
million on subsidies for apples. On average,
every year, that’s $1.07 billion for junk
food, and $37.4 million for apples.
These payments went to the farming
companies that grew the crops, of course,
but it’s possible to illustrate our nation’s
priorities by seeing what our agricultural
subsidies would buy.
If these agricultural subsidies went
directly to taxpayers to allow them to purchase food, each of America’s 141 million
taxpayers would be given $7.58 to spend on
junk food and 27 cents to spend on apples
each year—enough to buy 21 Twinkies but
just over half of one Red Delicious apple.
Apples to Twinkies
The significant public expenditure on unhealthy additives is a counterproductive use
of taxpayer dollars, and reflects our skewed
agricultural policy priorities. The perversity of these subsidies can be clearly seen
by examining how much federal support
goes to what most nutritionists recognize
as the healthiest category of foods: fresh
fruits and vegetables.
Only one of the top twenty federal
subsidy programs directly supports a fresh
fruit or vegetable: apples.29 It comes in at
number 19 on the list: since 1995 the entire
complex of federal agricultural programs
has spent only $637 million on apples, a
fraction of the taxpayer dollars going to
junk food.
Twinkies provide a perfect illustration
of the junk food heavily subsidized by our
food policy; the Red Delicious can serve
Conclusion
Billions of dollars in subsidies have been
spent over the past decades to support junk
food ingredients. This distressing practice
doesn’t reflect an overall policy of massive
support for the entire agricultural sector;
instead, it’s the result of a conscious policy
that directs subsidies to commodity crops
that are more likely to be processed into
food additives.
USDA says fruits and vegetables should
make up about half of the foods on our
plates, yet as this reports documents, this
priority is not reflected in the way taxpayer
dollars are spent through agricultural
subsidies.
This wasteful spending not only squanders taxpayer dollars: by fueling the crisis
Apples to Twinkies of childhood obesity, the subsidies damage
our country’s health and increase the medical costs that will ultimately need to be paid
to treat the effects of the obesity epidemic.
Taxpayers are paying for the privilege of
making our country sick.
Subsidies to large agribusinesses are
egregious enough on their own; the fact
that the subsidies go to junk food adds
insult to injury.
Apples to Twinkies
At a time when government spending is
coming under increased scrutiny, policymakers should take a hard look at what our
agricultural policy says about our priorities. This is a golden opportunity to ensure
our agricultural policy is aligned with our
food policy, and take a stand against subsidies for junk food.
Table 1: Apples and Twinkies Purchasable with Federal Subsidies, by Major U.S. City
City State Population Share of Junk Food Subsidies Number of
Twinkies
Share of
Apple Subsidies Number of
Apples 137,024
Albuquerque
New Mexico
552,804
$1,899,583
5,140,956
$66,491
Arlington
Texas
373,698
$1,284,127
3,475,309
$44,948
92,629
Atlanta
Georgia
432,427
$1,485,935
4,021,476
$52,012
107,186
Austin
Texas
820,611
$2,819,840
7,631,502
$98,703
203,406
Baltimore
Maryland
619,493
$2,128,745
5,761,149
$74,512
153,554
Boston
Massachusetts
625,087
$2,147,967
5,813,172
$75,185
154,941
Charlotte
North Carolina
Chicago
Illinois
Cleveland
751,087
$2,580,937
6,984,944
$90,340
186,173
2,707,120
$9,302,392
25,175,622
$325,611
671,017
Ohio
393,806
$1,353,223
3,662,309
$47,367
97,613
Colorado Springs
Colorado
426,388
$1,465,184
3,965,315
$51,286
105,689
Columbus
Ohio
797,434
$2,740,198
7,415,961
$95,915
197,661
Concord
New Hampshire
42,546
$146,199
395,668
$5,117
10,546
Dallas
Texas
1,223,229
$4,203,344
11,375,761
$147,129
303,203
Denver
Colorado
619,968
$2,130,377
5,765,566
$74,569
153,672
Des Moines
Iowa
206,599
$709,930
1,921,325
$24,850
51,210
Detroit
Michigan
706,585
$2,428,016
6,571,085
$84,988
175,142
El Paso
Texas
665,568
$2,287,071
6,189,636
$80,054
164,975
Fort Worth
Texas
758,738
$2,607,228
7,056,097
$91,261
188,069
Fresno
California
124,273
Houston
Texas
Indianapolis
Indiana
Jacksonville
Kansas City
501,362
$1,722,815
4,662,557
$60,304
2,145,146
$7,371,298
19,949,387
$258,017
531,720
827,609
$2,843,887
7,696,582
$99,544
205,140
Florida
827,908
$2,844,915
7,699,363
$99,580
205,215
Missouri
463,202
$1,591,687
4,307,677
$55,714
114,814
Las Vegas
Nevada
589,317
$2,025,052
5,480,519
$70,883
146,075
Long Beach
California
465,576
$1,599,844
4,329,755
$55,999
115,403
Los Angeles
California
3,819,702
$13,125,523
35,522,390
$459,432
946,794
Louisville
Kentucky
602,011
$2,068,672
5,598,570
$72,410
149,221
Memphis
Tennessee
652,050
$2,240,619
6,063,922
$78,428
161,624
Mesa
Arizona
446,518
$1,534,356
4,152,519
$53,707
110,679
Miami
Florida
408,750
$1,404,575
3,801,285
$49,164
101,317
Milwaukee
Wisconsin
597,867
$2,054,432
5,560,032
$71,911
148,194
Minneapolis
Minnesota
387,753
$1,332,424
3,606,018
$46,639
96,113
Nashville
Tennessee
609,664
$2,094,969
5,669,741
$73,330
151,118
New York
New York
8,244,910
$28,331,728
76,675,853
$991,693
2,043,675
Oakland
California
395,817
$1,360,134
3,681,011
$47,609
98,112
Oklahoma City
Oklahoma
591,967
$2,034,158
5,505,163
$71,201
146,732
Omaha
Nebraska
415,068
$1,426,285
3,860,041
$49,924
102,883
Philadelphia
Pennsylvania
1,536,471
$5,279,728
14,288,843
$184,806
380,847
Phoenix
Arizona
1,469,471
$5,049,497
13,665,758
$176,747
364,239
Portland
Oregon
593,820
$2,040,525
5,522,396
$71,424
147,191
Portland
Maine
66,194
$227,460
615,590
$7,962
16,408
Raleigh
North Carolina
416,468
$1,431,096
3,873,061
$50,093
103,230
Sacramento
California
472,178
$1,622,531
4,391,152
$56,793
117,039
San Antonio
Texas
1,359,758
$4,672,494
12,645,451
$163,551
337,045
San Diego
California
1,326,179
$4,557,108
12,333,174
$159,512
328,722
San Francisco
California
812,826
$2,793,089
7,559,103
$97,766
201,476
San Jose
California
967,487
$3,324,545
8,997,417
$116,369
239,812
Santa Barbara
California
Seattle
Washington
Trenton
New Jersey
83,242
$286,042
774,132
$10,012
20,633
Tucson
Arizona
525,796
$1,806,776
4,889,787
$63,242
130,330
Tulsa
Oklahoma
396,466
$1,362,364
3,687,047
$47,687
98,272
Virginia Beach
Virginia
442,707
$1,521,260
4,117,078
$53,249
109,734
Washington
District of Columbia
617,996
$2,123,600
5,747,227
$74,332
153,183
Wichita
Kansas
384,445
$1,321,056
3,575,254
$46,241
95,293
86,353
$296,732
803,064
$10,386
21,404
620,778
$2,133,160
5,773,099
$74,667
153,873
Apples to Twinkies Table 2: Apples and Twinkies Purchasable with Federal Subsidies, by State
State Population Alabama 4,802,740
Alaska 722,718
Arizona
6,482,505
Arkansas 2,937,979
California 37,691,912
Colorado 5,116,769
Connecticut 3,580,709
Delaware 907,135
Florida 19,057,542
Georgia 9,815,210
Hawaii 1,374,810
Idaho 1,584,985
Illinois 12,869,257
Indiana 6,516,922
Iowa 3,062,309
Kansas 2,871,238
Kentucky 4,369,356
Louisiana 4,574,836
Maine 1,328,188
Maryland 5,828,289
Massachusetts 6,587,536
Michigan 9,876,187
Minnesota 5,344,861
Mississippi 2,978,512
Missouri 6,010,688
Montana 998,199
Nebraska 1,842,641
Nevada 2,723,322
New Hampshire 1,318,194
New Jersey 8,821,155
New Mexico 2,082,224
New York 19,465,197
North Carolina 9,656,401
North Dakota 683,932
Ohio 11,544,951
Oklahoma 3,791,508
Oregon 3,871,859
Pennsylvania 12,742,886
Rhode Island 1,051,302
South Carolina 4,679,230
South Dakota 824,082
Tennessee 6,403,353
Texas 25,674,681
Utah 2,817,222
Vermont 626,431
Virginia 8,096,604
Washington 6,830,038
West Virginia 1,855,364
Wisconsin 5,711,767
Wyoming 568,158
Washington, DC 617,996
TOTAL
311,591,890
10 Apples to Twinkies
Share of Junk Food Subsidies $16,503,508
$2,483,454
$22,275,632
$10,095,687
$129,519,556
$17,582,596
$12,304,280
$3,117,160
$65,486,845
$33,727,704
$4,724,217
$5,446,435
$44,222,231
$22,393,898
$10,522,918
$9,866,347
$15,014,283
$15,720,368
$4,564,012
$20,027,570
$22,636,547
$33,937,237
$18,366,381
$10,234,969
$20,654,342
$3,430,080
$6,331,811
$9,358,068
$4,529,669
$30,311,863
$7,155,082
$66,887,657
$33,181,993
$2,350,174
$39,671,559
$13,028,642
$13,304,750
$43,787,987
$3,612,557
$16,079,094
$2,831,768
$22,003,645
$88,225,115
$9,680,733
$2,152,586
$27,822,111
$23,469,849
$6,375,530
$19,627,169
$1,952,344
$2,123,601
$1,070,713,613
Number of
Twinkies
44,664,432
6,721,119
60,285,879
27,322,562
350,526,539
47,584,833
33,299,811
8,436,157
177,230,973
91,279,307
12,785,432
14,740,014
119,681,276
60,605,949
28,478,804
26,701,886
40,634,055
42,544,974
12,351,858
54,201,813
61,262,644
91,846,379
49,706,038
27,699,510
55,898,084
9,283,032
17,136,158
25,326,299
12,258,916
82,034,812
19,364,228
181,022,075
89,802,418
6,360,418
107,365,520
35,260,195
36,007,442
118,506,053
9,776,879
43,515,816
7,663,782
59,549,783
238,768,919
26,199,549
5,825,671
75,296,647
63,517,860
17,254,479
53,118,184
5,283,745
5,747,228
2,897,736,437
Share of
Apple Subsidies $577,671
$86,928
$779,712
$353,379
$4,533,564
$615,442
$430,686
$109,110
$2,292,231
$1,180,568
$165,361
$190,641
$1,547,908
$783,852
$368,333
$345,351
$525,544
$550,259
$159,754
$701,024
$792,345
$1,187,903
$642,877
$358,254
$722,962
$120,063
$221,632
$327,560
$158,552
$1,061,004
$250,449
$2,341,264
$1,161,467
$82,263
$1,388,621
$456,041
$465,705
$1,532,708
$126,450
$562,815
$99,120
$770,192
$3,088,137
$338,854
$75,347
$973,855
$821,513
$223,162
$687,008
$68,338
$74,332
$37,478,112
Number of
# Apples
1,190,461
179,141
1,606,826
728,240
9,342,738
1,268,300
887,555
224,853
4,723,815
2,432,908
340,776
392,872
3,189,918
1,615,357
759,058
711,697
1,083,037
1,133,970
329,220
1,444,665
1,632,860
2,448,022
1,324,837
738,287
1,489,876
247,425
456,738
675,033
326,742
2,186,510
516,123
4,824,861
2,393,543
169,527
2,861,660
939,806
959,722
3,158,594
260,587
1,159,846
204,266
1,587,207
6,364,013
698,308
155,274
2,006,915
1,692,969
459,891
1,415,782
140,830
153,183
77,234,646
Endnotes
1 Obesity is defined by having a Body Mass Index
of over thirty (BMI is calculated by dividing weight,
in kilograms, by the square of height, in meters).
A male at the average American height of 5’10”
is obese if he weighs more than 210 pounds; for
a woman at the average American height of 5’4”,
obesity sets in at weights above 175 pounds. See the
World Health Organization, Information Sheet
on Obesity and Overweight, at http://www.who.
int/dietphysicalactivity/publications/facts/obesity/en/;
Wikipedia, Human Height, at http://en.wikipedia.
org/wiki/Human_height#Average_height_around_
the_world.
subsidies, only 3.8% of farmers are being paid three
quarters of the total subsidies.
2 Pam Belluck, Child Obesity Seen as Warning of Heart
Disease, N.Y. Times, Nov. 11, 2008, at http://www.
nytimes.com/2008/11/12/health/12heart.html.
8 2012 Farm Subsidy Database.
3 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
Health Topics: Childhood Obesity, at http://www.
cdc.gov/healthyyouth/obesity/.
7 Brian Riedl, How Farm Subsidies Harm Taxpayers,
Consumers, and Farmers Too, Heritage Foundation,
June 20, 2007, at http://www.heritage.org/research/
repor t s/20 07/06/ how-fa r m-subsid ies-ha r mtaxpayers-consumers-and-farmers-too; Gilbert M.
Saul, Sarah Cohen, and Dan Morgan, Federal Subsidies
turn Farms into Big Business, Washington Post, Dec.
21, 2006, at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wpdyn/content/article/2006/12/20/AR2006122001591.
html.
9 USDA Economic Research Service, Corn Prices near
Record High, but What About Food Costs?, Amber Waves,
Feb. 2008, at http://www.ers.usda.gov/AmberWaves/
February08/Features/CornPrices.htm.
4 Eric A. Finkelstein, Justin G. Trogdon, Joel W.
Cohen, and William Dietz, Annual Medical Spending
Attributable To Obesity: Payer- And Service-Specific
Estimates, Health Affairs, July 27, 2009.
10 2012 Farm Subsidy Database. This figure
includes subsidies from both the Apple Market Loss
Assistance Program as we did in our 2011 report, and
also the newly available crop insurance premium
subsidies for 1995-2011.
5 Various Contributors, Series on Obesity, The
Lancet, Aug. 26, 2011, at http://www.thelancet.
com/series/obesity.
11 Jack Hedin, My Forbidden Fruits (and Vegetables),
N.Y. Times, Mar. 1, 2008, at http://www.nytimes.
com/2008/03/01/opinion/01hedin.html.
6 Environmental Working Group, 2012 Farm
Subsidy Database, at http://farm.ewg.org. Ten
percent of subsidy recipients collected 75% of the
subsidies, but because USDA reports that 62% of
American farmers don’t pocket a dollar in federal
12 Dennis A. Shields, Renegotiation of the Standard
Reinsurance Agreement (SR A) for Federal Crop
Insurance, Congressional Research Service, June 10,
2010, at http://assets.opencrs.com/rpts/R40966_
20100610.pdf.
Apples to Twinkies 11
13 USDA Risk Management Agency, Crop year
government cost of federal crop insurance, 20022011, at http://www.rma.usda.gov/aboutrma/budget/cycost2002-11.pdf
http://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/sugar-andsweeteners-yearbook-tabls.aspx.
14 Id.
23 Id.
15 USDA Economic Research Service, 2011 Farm
Sector Income Forecast, at http://www.ers.usda.
gov/topics/farm-economy/farm-sector-incomefinances/2011-farm-sector-income-forecast.aspx
24 Kayla Hedrick, “Low-Lin” Oil Helps Keep Us
Healthier and Profitable, unitedsoybean.org, Jan. 19,
2011, at http://unitedsoybean.org/topics/consumer/
low-lin-soybean-oil-helps-keep-us-healthy-andfarmers-profitable.
16 2012 Farm Subsidy Database.
17 The full list includes wheat flour, corn syrup,
HFCS, vegetable shortening, animal shortening,
eggs, dextrose, “modified cornstarch,” corn flour, soy
protein isolate, soy flour, corn dextrin, soy lecithin,
cornstarch. Laura Coffey, 37 Ingredients Twinkie
Eaters Ingest, MSNBC, at http://today.msnbc.msn.
com/id/38872091/ns/today-food/t/ingredientstwinkie-eaters-ingest/.
18 See a representative list at e.g. Kate Hopkins,
Foods and Products Containing High Fructose Corn
Syr up, Accidental Hedon ist, at ht t p://w w w.
accidentalhedonist.com/index.php/2005/06/09/
foods_and_products_containing_high_fruct.
19 This conservative definition underestimates
federal support for junk food. Wheat flour, which
may be processed and “enriched”, is used in a large
number of such products. Similarly, dairy subsidies
support the production of milk, eggs, and cheese,
which may be used as junk food ingredients. Even
for the crops we do examine, we do not fully capture
how much is going to junk food—corn chips and
corn puffs, for example, include more corn-based
ingredients than just processed corn starch and
sweeteners.
20 Gary Taubes, Is Sugar Toxic?, N.Y. Times
Magazine, Apr. 17, 2011, at http://www.nytimes.
c o m / 2 011 / 0 4 / 17/ m a g a z i n e / m a g -17S u g a r t.html?pagewanted=all. However, some studies have
suggested that consuming high fructose corn syrup
rather than sugar may lead to increased weight gain.
See, e.g., Hilary Parker, A Sweet Problem: Princeton
Researchers Find that High Fructose Corn Syrup Prompts
Considerably More Weight Gain, princeton.edu, Mar.
22, 2010, at http://www.princeton.edu/main/news/
archive/S26/91/22K07/.
21 USDA Economic Research Service, Sugar and
Sweeteners: Recommended Data, Table 27: U.S. Use
of Field Corn, by Crop Year. Because this data set is
arranged in “crop years” stretching from September
of one year through August of the next, we started
our count in the 1995/96 crop year. Available at
12 Apples to Twinkies
22 2012 Farm Subsidy Database.
25 Many soy oils undergo a process called hydrogenation before being used in food products. Hydrogenation is a process that can help protect oils from
spoilage and improve their taste, as well as making
them semisolid. However, partial hydrogenation also
increases the concentration of trans fatty acids in the
oil, and consumption of trans fats has been shown to
increase the risk of heart disease. Due to these health
concerns, food processors have been decreasingly
relying on partial hydrogenation of soy oils. Id.;
Wikipedia, Hydrogenation, at http://en.wikipedia.
org/wiki/Hydrogenation.
26 USDA Economic Research Service, Oil Crops
Yearbook 2011, Table 9: Soybeans: Monthly Value
of Products Per Bushel of Soybeans Processed, and
Spot Price Spread, U.S., 1990/91 -2010/11. The
average share of the price since 1995 is weighted by
the total soybean production in a given year, which
may be found in Table 2: Soybeans: Acreage Planted,
Harvested, Yield, Production, Value, and Loan
Rate, U.S., 1960-2012. Available at usda.gov/dataproducts/oil-crops-yearbook.aspx
27 If bought in larger quantities, the per-unit cost
of a Twinkie is roughly $.37. See, e.g., this Amazon.
com product listing: http://www.amazon.com/
Hostess-Twinkies-individually-wrapped-twinkies/
dp/B0027AR7RU.
28 A Twink ie is 4” long. See http://science.
howstuffworks.com/innovation/edible-innovations/
twinkie.htm. Earth’s circumference is 24,901 miles.
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth.
29 2012 Farm Subsidy Database. Federal farm
policy does include disaster relief payments that
go to owners of orchards and other fruit-growing
trees in the event that a natural disaster damages
their crop; due to the non-recurrent, random nature
of these payments, we do not include them in our
analysis. Number twenty on the list are subsidies for
growing sugar beets, a tuber; however, sugar beets
are cultivated to be processed into sugar, not to be
eaten directly.